Coast Guard Health Care: Improvements Needed for Determining Staffing Needs and Monitoring Access to Care

The Coast Guard provides health care to its personnel through outpatient clinics. It had 1,022 health care staff in 2021. Is that enough?

We found that the Coast Guard can’t be sure. It doesn’t have standards to outline the number and types of health care staff it needs. For example, other health care organizations use benchmarks such as the ratio of patients per doctor or nurse.

In addition, the Coast Guard doesn’t have reliable information on whether its personnel are receiving health care...